Rapamycin rejuvenates human cells

Researchers at the University of Maryland, working under the guidance of Associate Professor Kan Cao, have found that the drug rapamycin is able to eliminate the symptoms of premature aging in the cells of patients with a rare hereditary disease - progeria, or Getchinson–Guilford syndrome, characterized by rapid aging of the body at a young age.

In earlier studies, rapamycin, currently used as an immunosuppressive drug to prevent rejection of transplanted organs and tissues, has demonstrated its ability to increase the life expectancy of healthy mice. The authors hope that the data they have obtained will open up new prospects not only in the treatment of progeria, but also in the fight against age-related diseases common in today's aging society.

Fibroblasts of the skin of patients with progeria demonstrate a whole complex of defects: deformations of the cell nucleus of the membrane, delayed growth and premature death. The researchers found that rapamycin can rejuvenate these cells by activating autophagy mechanisms that enhance the degradation and excretion of progerin protein, the excessive accumulation of which is characteristic of the cells of patients with progeria.

On the left, progerin (green) is evenly distributed inside prematurely aging cells.
On the right, progerin is concentrated in cells treated with rapamycin
and it is output much more efficiently.

It is unclear whether the drug will have a similar effect on the body of patients with progeria. In children with this currently incurable disease, typical signs of aging begin to appear at an early age: baldness, skin thickening, joint pain, heart disease, etc. They usually die before they reach the age of 12.

Scientists are already planning clinical trials involving such patients. They also note that, as we age, progerin gradually accumulates in the cells of healthy people, which may contribute to the process of normal aging.

The development of some age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, is also the result of a violation of the mechanisms of excretion of the products of their vital activity from cells. Rapamycin may be able to help in the "purification" of cells not only from progerin, but also from other toxic proteins, but scientists have not yet studied this issue.

Article by Kan Cao et al. Rapamycin Reverses Cellular Phenotypes and Enhances Mutant Protein Clearance in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome Cells published June 29 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of TechnologyReview: Drug Reverses 'Accelerated Aging' in Human Cells.

30.06.2011